posted at 9:52 pm on March 3, 2008 by Allahpundit

Update: Getting lots of e-mails about the fact that puppy isn’t struggling and how the yelp when it’s thrown doesn’t seem to trail away. Here’s one from reader David V.:

The sounds are all wrong in that clip of the “puppy throwing.”

I’ve been involved with dogs since I was 12, breeding and training, and there is no way the sounds in that Youtube video were coming from a real puppy. If you actually hurled a puppy by the scruff of its neck, the first sound you would hear would be a loud scream as it was launched, because you would have very nearly torn its neck off. Notice, though, the puppy is completely silent as it is thrown. The ridiculous yelping noises don’t start until after the pup is airborne.

That’s your second problem, because just as a human needs to take repeated breaths to keep yelling, a dog must be breathing in order to yelp. (Imagine trying to scream while spinning head-over-heels in the air.) The puppy would have gone completely stiff as it flew, tensing up and spreading its legs to try to cushion the fall. Definitely no gasping for breath and yelping.

Final problem – there is no way that a crap camera like the one used to shoot that video would be able to pick up an airborne puppy’s faint yelping from dozens of yards away, yet the “yelping” barely decreases in volume during the puppy’s flight.

I don’t know what was thrown – probably a dead puppy – but I am absolutely certain that there is no way on earth the noises in the video were made by the puppy we see there.

Blowback

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The story ran here and on other blogs before MSM outlets went big with it.

The Race Card on March 4, 2008 at 1:24 PM

This is a BLOG. You know, people in pajamas writing stuff they hope is interesting enough to get a bunch of hits and attract advertisers. They do not have the same level of responsibility (or access to sources) as a general rule as the MSM does. For FNC and other “real” news outlets to pick up this story and run it before they even ask the guys on the video if it’s a real dog is indicative of their consistent lack of journalistic responsibility.

You’re right, here at HA and other blogs, it’s just a bunch of people guessing and getting upset at each other. That’s because this is a BLOG. Over at FNC, they’re a phone call or two away from sources in Iraq who can ask the clown in the video what he was doing. BEFORE they report on unfounded speculation and insinuation.

I finally brought myself to watching the video. Whether it’s a toy or not, it’s not moving. It never moves even a little bit…no twitching, no movement of the ears, the movement of the legs, nothing. One thing is for certain. If it isn’t a prank, these soldiers should be held responsible for what they’ve done. If it is a prank, they have a sick sense of humor. With that said, see how much emotion this short little clip has spawned? Wouldn’t the public be just as emotionally enraged if one of the Islamic beheadings of our troops got this same kind of coverage? Of course it would, which is why it won’t get the same kind of coverage. What we’re dealing with here folks, is Abu Ghraib Volume II. Need refueling Code Pink? Here you go!

This is a BLOG. You know, people in pajamas writing stuff they hope is interesting enough to get a bunch of hits and attract advertisers.

aero on March 4, 2008 at 1:50 PM

Thanks for the info, but I’ve been working online for more than a decade. I understand info architecture, traffic, metrics, etc. You draw an unimportant distinction between HA and MSM newsers. Sites such as HA and Huffpo are becoming the bleeding-edge trendsetters for news sites.

The only differences between HotAir and Drudge, besides having a better looking staff, are the permalinks and reporting. Drudge is the recognized goto source in newsrooms across the world. Drudge does almost no reporting, yet his is the preeminent news site. Is HA less informative than Drudge?

Hell no.

Here’s a tip. Publishing is advertising. Newspapers are nothing more than ad sheets with hard news, enterprise pieces, sports, weather, obits and comics thrown in to get you to read more ads. If a newspaper could get away with printing just ads, they would.

They do not have the same level of responsibility (or access to sources) as a general rule as the MSM does.

Do not fool yourself. The first amendment does not define what our press looks or functions like. But it does protect their actions. I was a reporter for a metro newspaper. The only time I was ever in a situation where a press pass made a difference was in the press box at sporting events or concerts.

My newsroom was very displeased when they realized they were going to have to allow for public input on stories via message boards, submitted links, photos, etc. Many journalists were offended at the masses sharing their vaunted status. Despite what my colleauges say, if you are covering an event, you are a journalist period.

Being a reporter, does not require any super powers or equipment. I hoofed it for some stories. But more often than not, I called people to get information and/or quotes. Guess what! You can call people and get information and quotes too. You can call your police department’s PIO and get info too. You can access the same public information most reporters use as sources.

When I first started reporting, I used to think that I was some special agent sent forth to save society from itself. I soon learned that I was just another citizen taking names.

MM is a hell of a reporter. The only real differences in the writing here and her site are the lack of original quotes and photographs. I think that’s a function of budget. It’s not cost effective for HA to send people out on location to re-report. So most of the time, they gather the facts using technology. But, when HA covers CPAC or other events and calls it “liveblogging,” they are reporting.

Perhaps you do not imbue them with the same status as NYT, Tribune and Gannett papers. But I do and have not been disappointed in doing so. The editing is impeccable. They don’t hide their opinions and they apply critical consideration to the facts they deliver.

Over at FNC, they’re a phone call or two away from sources in Iraq who can ask the clown in the video what he was doing. BEFORE they report on unfounded speculation and insinuation.

At what stage is a story a story? When is it OK with you to talk about things? Since you acknowledge the advertising aspect of blogs, you should remember the business model of newspapers and broadcast news. They also have advertisers.

Those advertisers respond to viewership. Viewership responds to variety. News is pretty boring unless you’re reporting on emerging stories. If we waited until every scenario had played itself out before reporting on it, history sharply reflect this. Events and scandals such as Watergate might not have resulted in impeachments. The suppport to enter Iraq might not have been there. Even the attempted assassination of President Reagan had a delay in reporting on his condition.

Should we wait until there’s a death to call something news?
And if Michael Vick’s trial was the most gripping news buzz this nation has experienced in many years, why wouldn’t the dogtoss story draw at least some interest?

Oh spare me the posturing. Saddam Hussein used to throw people off of buildings and where was the outrage from the kind of people who will use this video?

As for people talking about soldiers supposedly have done to animals, the truth is they have set up shelters for them as well and they have not used them to carry explosives into market places, they have not blown up pet markets deliberately to kill animals and people alike.

But if the left gets their way the kind of people who do those very things will be turned lose to kill all the pets and people they want.

See my post here. I didn’t know this one was still going. The reaction at the family’s home says “guilty” to me. Whether he threw a live pup, a dead pup, or something else entirely as a “joke” for the video, the guy’s head wasn’t on straight.

Video no longer available. I can’t speak openly regarding the video as I haven’t seen it, but I can say that if it was a Marine killing a dog in Iraq then it wouldn’t be the first time. Iraq (assuming it was Iraq) has more than enough wild dogs and there are dozens of ways for them to die. I don’t know that my point it going to come across clearly, but I think that perhaps when Americans sit in America and see something that shocks them their outrage is out of place. If this guy made a film, regardless of its content, that showed him in his uniform doing anything that the Marine Corps doesn’t agree with then he’s in hot water – activists and puppy lovers aside. This is just silly.

Meh. Assuming its real – and its probably not – well, there are assholes everywhere. I’m personally confident that the asshole percentage is significantly lower among the troops in general (and in the Marine Corps in particular), but I knew a few asshats when I was in the USMC.

If this is real, this idiot doesn’t reflect on his brothers-in-arms anymore than arguing that somebody from (insert racial, ethnic, or religious group here) is reflective of everybody in that group.

If anybody argues otherwise and makes a broad brush generalization about our troops because a handful of assholes … well, fine. Then don’t complain the next time somebody calls all Muslims terrorists.

If we waited until every scenario had played itself out before reporting on it, history sharply reflect this. Events and scandals such as Watergate might not have resulted in impeachments.

???

That’s why editors rule the newsroom. Here’s another try:

If we waited until every scenario had played itself out before reporting on it, history might have been different. Events and scandals such as Monicagate and Watergate might not have resulted in impeachments.

I have read that in Afghanistan the dogs would eat the dead in Kabul back in the days when the war lords were fighting, after the Soviets were gone. I have no doubt that in a country like Iraq where there are not enough doctors much less vets there are all kinds of wild and sick dogs with no one to take care of them.

I hope these young men did not disgrace their uniforms by doing anything this offensive or stupid, but we were not there and we do not know the circumstances. The willingness of people to pass judgment based on some you tube video like this is just silly and wrong.

The US Marines can and will deal with people who disgrace their uniforms. I would think the soldiers would know that, which makes me wonder if the whole thing is a hoax.

It’s frustrating that these guys are so f-ing stupid that they would actually film this without thinking about the consequences. Fake or not (and I think that puppy is dead and the sounds are fake) this is just begging for public condemnation. Libs and eurotrash scream enough as it is about the eeeevil US troops and their eeeevil mission. Morons like these guys ultimately make things harder for themselves and other soldiers and marines. So, so stupid.

That dog was dead when they found it. It’s stiff the entire way through. I don’t know who added the yelps, but it’s nothing more than a very poor attempt at dark humor. Daily is right, this done in the same vein.

I noticed that when was concentrating on the movement of
the face of the puppy….it looks more like pixelation distortion to me. Not movement. If you look closely the
mouth doesn’t even move. It stays open with no apparent moving
of the tougue. Even when the dog is about to be thrown, no movement. At least that what it appears to be case to me.

Theory 1: These guys were carrying a fake puppy around with them on duty, took a camera-phone video of themselves pretending it was a real puppy and then throwing it off a cliff — a camera-phone video in which any apparent signs of life are actually compression artifacts — and later, yelping sounds were dubbed in.

Theory 1: These guys were carrying a fake puppy around with them on duty,

Or they found a dead puppy.

a camera-phone video in which any apparent signs of life are actually compression artifacts

Make that “the apparent sign of life.” And if we’re applying Occam’s Razor, the best explanation for the fact that an apparently dead puppy’s mouth moved is that it was a compression artifact. It’s not like we’re talking about crystal-clear video here.

and later, yelping sounds were dubbed in.

Or, the idiot behind the camera made yelping sounds. Guys who are stuck in a desert for extended periods of time do dumb stuff like perfecting their ability to yelp like a puppy.

Or throwing dead dogs off cliffs as a [breathtakingly unfunny and stupid] joke.

Hunny:
Oh spare me the posturing. Saddam Hussein used to throw people off of buildings and where was the outrage from the kind of people who will use this video?
As for people talking about soldiers supposedly have done to animals, the truth is they have set up shelters for them as well and they have not used them to carry explosives into market places, they have not blown up pet markets deliberately to kill animals and people alike.
But if the left gets their way the kind of people who do those very things will be turned lose to kill all the pets and people they want.
Terrye on March 4, 2008 at 3:01 PM

and i posted this earlier…

agreed- disgusting. Real or fake, someone passed it on for the same effect. If it’s me, and it makes it “out there” and creates harm for our military and their situation (and it IS), I hunt them down and find out what the story is. But I still am amazed that libs want these men painfully killed for doing this, yet they are OK with Saddam cutting tongues and ears off, throwing people in plastic bottle shredding machines, and hooded men cutting American heads off with dull steak knives while they are awake. Amazing.
HunnyWaggin on March 4, 2008 at 7:01 AM

so i stand by what i said. i mentioned that i was amazed that this sort of thing strikes a chord with libs. they want these soldiers strung up, yet they will fight to the death to protect Saddam’s right to murder, etc.
As far as why i would take it so far to expose the truth, if it IS in fact a left wing dirty trick (and i do not really believe that) then expose it!. im sick of the lies and attempts to hurt our own from within. if it is real, then go get those morons, because after Abu Graib, they should learn how something like this (big or small as it may seam to some folks) can have a HUGE negative effect on our effort when the libs get a hold of it an put their twist on it.

My bad… Should have worded that more clearly. What I meant was, all other evidence is either ambiguous or suggests the pup is dead (posture, stiffness, noise, etc). That being the case, it seems like the best explanation for the single anomaly is a compression artifact, particularly in a video with more than its share of compression artifacts.

What I meant was, all other evidence is either ambiguous or suggests the pup is dead (posture, stiffness, noise, etc). That being the case, it seems like the best explanation for the single anomaly is a compression artifact, particularly in a video with more than its share of compression artifacts.

If you see a cellphone video of somebody throwing a yelping puppy off a cliff, the explanation that requires the fewest assumptions is that it’s a cellphone video of somebody throwing a yelping puppy off a cliff. Occam’s Razor.

I dont know if the “puppy” was real, alive or dead, I havent seen the video and my sound card isnt working anyway.
The point I want to make is, the left in this country just LIVE for our military to do something stupid like this even if it is a farce. Why dont our guys stop and think about the ammunition they are giving these people by doing this stupid stuff?
The left get all exercised about a possibly fake puppy, but have absolutely no qualms about slicing and dicing a human infant in the womb and flushing what’s left down a garbage disposal.
Come on guys – think before you act.

This has become the new Zapruder film. If it is a plush toy it would be one thing. Even throwing a dead puppy is pretty sick but what is also sick is the gloating that the anti-soldier left is wallowing in.

What is wrong with you people? So what if the puppy in the US Marine’s hand is already dead? So what if the video sound is doctored or fake?

Say that US Marines collude to create a fake video, throwing an already dead puppy into a ravine and then adding a yelping sound track? This is by definition dishonorable. Thus, it is not fitting for US Marine behavior.

Thus, those Marines involved in this debacle must be court martialed and punished severely and dishonorably dischaged .. for being dishonorable.

Why is it so incredibly for some of you to simply say, “If its real, it sucks”. I honestly dont understand why so many extremists, and yes, most of you are as extreme to the right as all of those lefties are that you so frequently complain about.

Im talking about these sorts of reactions, specifically:

The left get all exercised about a possibly fake puppy, but have absolutely no qualms about slicing and dicing a human infant in the womb and flushing what’s left down a garbage disposal.

What does THAT have to do with this video? Nothing. What about those of us that are equally horrified?

Stop making apologies just because you cant have your way. Wrong is wrong.

If I steal, its wrong. Its not made right, by someone else doing something worse.

There are plenty of sick, twisted buttholes out there, and if this is real, the dude and the cameraman are both among them.

What is interesting is that in our value-neutral, judgement-free society people don’t see the downside of recording this crap. If this is a real video, the guys involved had no idea that other people would find it so sick??

Pity his family – the blogosphere’s wrath has caused them a boatload of harrassment.
Just on a whim I ‘googled’ the Marine’s name – one blog lists a home address, phone number etc… and encourages the whacko’s to take action.
unbelievable.
Yes, even if faked it’s disturbing imagery – but urging mayhem on his family?

You tell me. While the rest of us can’t be sure of anything you apparently know for certain it’s real. I take it you’re not big on the benefit of the doubt for this Marine.
I guess the mystery is solved. Jim Treacher has solved the mystery everyone. Move along now, there’s nothing to see here.

While the rest of us can’t be sure of anything you apparently know for certain it’s real. I take it you’re not big on the benefit of the doubt for this Marine.
I guess the mystery is solved. Jim Treacher has solved the mystery everyone. Move along now, there’s nothing to see here.

All that for asking a question? My goodness.

Benefit of the doubt? The guy takes a video of himself playing shotput with a puppy and I’m supposed to give him the benefit of the doubt? I understand the various science-fiction scenarios; I simply don’t find them plausible.

I personally think the film clip is fake. I’ve been around dogs all my life and I currently have three. The only time I have ever heard any of my dogs yelp was when they were in pain or were recently hurt in some way. I’ve never thrown a puppy in the air, however I personally believe the puppy would not have yelped until he/she hit the ground. The puppy would not have been in pain until after hitting the ground. Furthermore, the object was flipping end over end in the air. If I toss a puppy on the bed, it will spread it legs. There would have been a lot of movement from a live puppy.

However, because some people have a horrible dark demented sense of humor, and like to pull chains at the same time, this act was just a spur of the moment (without thought), action. Young men usually never think of the possible consequences of an action, they just do it because of boredom or immediate situation. They acted foolishly. And foolish actions usually come back to bite one in the posterior. Therefore the foolish man I am, I will leave you with Ogden Edsl famous song released in 1973.

Dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies aren’t much fun.

They don’t come when you call;
They don’t chase squirrels at all.
Dead puppies aren’t much fun.

My puppy died late last fall;
He’s still rotting in the hall.
Dead puppies aren’t much fun. No, no, no.

Mom says puppy’s days are through;
She’s going to throw him in the stew.
Dead puppies aren’t much fun.